Luck plays factor but skill the vital ingredient

Part one: playing the game

THE Americans like to call no limit Texas Hold'em "the Cadillac of poker". Clearly, very few of them have driven a Cadillac, as they are simply bedsprings on wheels.

Such is the rocky and turbulent ride hold'em players go on, I'd be more inclined to compare the game to a Citroen 2CV. The game has been described as ugly, uncomfortable and impractical, but players find it endearing, and they keep coming back.

Strategy talk: Roy Brindley

  

Hold'em is one of the most simplistic forms of poker. What could be easier? Two cards dealt to each player face down, and five community cards dealt face up in the centre of the table for everyone to see.

The game's popularity stems from its simplicity, and you will find it played in factory canteens at lunchtime, by taxi drivers waiting outside airports, in the back rooms of kebab shops and pretty much anywhere else you care to consider. Trust me on this!

But with five cards on display so much depends on the value of your ‘hole cards', and this is the uncomfortable part of the game as huge showdowns invariably occur.

A player holding a large pair, such as queens or jacks, often ends up against a rival with ace-king. Then the outcome is in the lap of the gods. ‘Simple to play - where a slice of luck is always required', is one way of describing hold'em but, make no mistake, skill is the vital ingredient if you want to be successful.

Test your skills: Racing Post Poker

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I have always steered well clear of writing about poker strategy as I don't believe I'm in a position to tell people how to play poker. Surely poker strategy books are something that should be reserved for owners of World Series bracelets and multiple World Poker Tour winners, but apparently not.

There are hundreds of books available on how to play poker, but I have just two thoughts on them. Most are written by people who once had a big win but are now broke, and writing the ‘how to play like me formula' seems an easy route to get some money back in the bank.

Second, if we could all play poker like Einstein as a result of reading a book, what a boring and predictable game it would be. There would be no winners and no losers.

Imagine nine players sat at a poker table each clutching a strategy book, all urgently searching for the relevant page after a pot has been raised by the player in seat three and flat-called by the player in seat four. SEAT six, who hasnot played a hand in five hours, moves all-in and the player in seat eight, who holds a pair of queens and is next to act, is left scratching his head. Is there really a page for each on what to do next?

No. Such a manual will never exist because poker is not as easy as reading a book. You may have been able to crack Rubik's Cube with the help of one, but not poker.

I've never read a book about poker strategy - I memorised the stats in the back of a poker diary once while stranded in Madeira - and I pride myself on the fact that, for me, it has been entirely self-taught.

I'm hoping my take on the game might give you some fresh insight as I've not been infected by what is a mishmash of conflicting opinions. As a consequence, I cannot conveniently set my stall out among the common ground these publications offer.

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